‘A sting to the scrotum is painful but the nose is far worse,’ says scientist who let bees attack his body five times a day for research

• Each body part was stung 3 times to measure level of pain
• Cornell graduate student Michael Smith used results to show most sensitive sites to be stung 

By Jessica Jerreat

Published: 06:11 BST, 6 April 2014 | Updated: 13:53 BST, 6 April 2014

A Cornell University student has made a series of painful conclusions in his research into stings by letting honey bees attack his own body.

Michael Smith subjected himself to several stings a day to his face, arms and genitals to map out what section of the body was most sensitive to the barbs.

After weeks of research Smith found that although stings to his penis and testicles were uncomfortable, the worst place for a bee to attack was the nostril.

Science of stings: Cornell student Michael Smith researched the most painful places for a bee to attack

His usual idea for the study came about when the bee enthusiast was discussing the problems of working with hives with his academic adviser. 

‘We speculated it probably really would hurt to get stung in the testicles. Two days later, by chance, I did get stung there. It didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to,’ he told the Independent.

Intrigued by his ‘eureka’ moment, Smith chose 25 locations on his body to measure the level of pain. He then held a bee to those areas and allowed it to sting him.

Like all scientific studies he needed to repeat his experiment several times so, over the course of 38 days, he administered five stings a day.

Each body part was stung three times during the experiment, and the pain level was given a mark out of 10.

Because the experiment needed a control, he also had to let a bee sting his forearm at the start and end of each day’s research.

His research raised some unusual problems, including being able to maneuver a bee to the more hard-to-reach body parts.

‘Some locations required the use of a mirror and an erect posture during stinging (e.g., buttocks),’ he wrote in his study, which has been published in PeerJ.

The results were surprising, with Smith finding that although stings to the genitals were painful, there were worst places to be stung. 

‘There’s definitely no crossing of wires of pleasure and pain down there. But if you’re stung in the nose and penis, you’re going to want more stings to the penis over the nose, if you’re forced to choose,’ he told National Geographic.

Experiment: Smith held bees to his body so he could research the most painful sites for stings

Pain map: To be sure of his results, Smith administered three bee stings to 25 locations on his body

‘I really don’t want to get sting in the nose again – that’s not fun. Your body really reacts. You’re sneezing, wheezing. Your eyes are streaming,’ he added.

Smith admitted that there were times when he regretted embarking on his experiment, and said he was glad his supervisor, Tom Seeley, had talked him out of testing stings to the eyes.

‘He was concerned that I might go blind. I wanted to keep my eyes,’ Smith said. 

The graduate’s fascination with bees has formed the basis of his research at Cornell’s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, where he is studying honeybee colonies.

While studying molecular biology at Princeton in 2009 he founded the Princeton University Bee Team, which has led to the creation of two hives on the university campus.

He also runs the College Beekeeper group, which advises students on how to get hives up and running.

Dedication: Smith, a graduate student researching hive colonies, also promotes beekeeping at universities

While measuring pain is it common to lose sex drive during pregnancy subjective, and the study used only one person’s measure of pain, Smith has no plans to further his research into bee stings.

‘I didn’t see a lot of merit in repeating this with more subjects,’ he said.

And for those wanting to avoid accidentally repeating his experiment, Smith advised: ‘If you have a bee buzzing around you and you think it’s peeved, if you calm down, don’t breathe a lot – they are attracted to carbon dioxide – and slowly walk away, you will be fine. Most stings are probably wasps.’